High School

Crusaders are no match for Coventry in Class S final By Kyle Brennan Republican-American

GLASTONBURY — For as dominant as the Coventry High girls have been in Class S volleyball finals over the years, none of the Patriots expected to be as close to perfection as they were Friday at Glastonbury High.

No. 1 Coventry made just five errors from the floor in a 3-0 sweep of No. 3 Holy Cross as the Patriots won their seventh straight state title and ninth in 10 years. Game scores were 25-7, 25-14, 25-8.

"Can we do much better?" Coventry coach Ryan Giberson asked rhetorically after the game. "Probably not."

Statistically, the first game was probably the Patriots' worst with eight kills to three errors on the floor. All they did was mount an 18-0 run on Kelly Foley's serve to grab an 18-1 lead.

"My mindset was to stay focused," Foley said. "Coach told me to keep my arm back because I've had some trouble with that. I just put all my power and my adrenaline into it."

"That's crazy," Giberson said of the run. "You don't expect anything like that. A lot of it is credited to her teammates. You never know if something quirky is going to happen on that first hit, and they were ready."

Holy Cross (22-3) improved in the second game and jumped out to a 4-2 lead on three kills by Adrianna Mihalek, who was stuck in the back row throughout the first game because of Foley's long run.

But it was just a matter of time before Coventry (22-0) stormed back and continued its dominance. The Patriots came up with 14 kills in that game compared to one hitting error and four service mistakes. Marina Rose pummeled a kill to finish the game.

"Everything clicked," Rose said. "Everyone was talking, everyone was telling each other who had what

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seam. It's hard to be positive all the time but everyone was positive."

For Holy Cross coach Danielle Moffo, there wasn't much she could do but watch perhaps the state's best team make dig after dig, pass after pass and kill after kill.

"We have never seen a team like this before," Moffo said. "We had to change up our lineup in the second game (moving Mihalek up in the rotation). We had to change up our strategy that we've used since the beginning of this year. We left it all on the floor. I couldn't have asked for a better effort."

Nor could Giberson, whose team was even more flawless in the third game. It tallied 14 kills, five aces and one error from the floor. Holy Cross made only five errors in the game, but it didn't matter to Rose (16 kills), Alyssa Keeney (nine kills) or Jessica Beausoleil (six kills).

"In practice, we go through rotations with no defense on the other side, and even with that you're going to have some serve receive errors and some hitting errors even with no defense on the other end," Giberson said. "The way we came out today, I didn't even expect that."

Rose, the tournament MVP, fittingly finished the match with a kill down the left sideline. But the Providence College-bound senior wasn't sure about a year ago if she would play another volleyball match, let alone a state final.

Matt Hurlock, who coached Coventry's current group of seniors for their first two years, died in July 2011 after battling cancer. His death at the age of 39 made Rose unsure of her desire to play during her junior season.

"I always wanted to play but the feeling of Coach (Hurlock) not being there was overwhelming," Rose said. "He did so much for me and he did so much for everybody. I knew if I gave up, it wouldn't represent him well, my parents or anything I've worked for."

Rose, who by far led the state in kills and attack percentage this season, remembered her former coach before she went out and led the Patriots to another state title.

"Before the game we thought about last time we were here (in Glastonbury); that's the last time Coach (Hurlock) was in the state championship," she said. "Emotions ran high."

"This senior class has been through a lot," Giberson said. "If you could get them all to put it together on one day and play their best, we got pretty close to that tonight."

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